Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 44

The recovery went faster than expected. It was thanks to his high Constitution stat and the medicine Hephaestus left him.

After sleeping for a whole day, when he woke up, YuWon felt mostly recovered.

‘I think I can start moving around now.’

Crack, crack—

He couldn’t remember the last time he had laid down for so long. It had only been a day, but he already felt like his body had stiffened up.

‘I ended up facing a Ranker much sooner than I expected. I also thought I wouldn’t face Olympus until at least the 10th Floor, but things got ahead of schedule.’

Now fully lucid, YuWon sat up and started slowly stretching.

‘Still, despite my plans being thrown out the window, I gained something huge, so it’s fine.’

Hephaestus finally came out of hiding.

With the intervention of the Administrator, Olympus wouldn’t be able to plan another extreme intervention on the 1st Floor with a Ranker like this time. They’d need at least a few years for another attempt, and those few years would be plenty of time for YuWon to bring about change.

‘With Ahjussi’s help, I’ll be able to obtain items much easier. And I also managed to rebuild our relationship much faster than I expected…’

Ssk—

YuWon put on the 「Pyromancy Robe」 that he had temporarily stored in his inventory.

‘And more than anything else, this is going to greatly affect the second Gigantomachy.’

YuWon stared at the black gem in his hand.

‘It was an immense net positive.’

There was no need for him to properly calculate his gains and losses. On one hand, he had refined the black crystal, gained a huge supporter in Hephaestus, greatly influenced the Gigantomachy, and put Olympus under the close watch of the Administrator.

On the other hand, he’d made an enemy out of Olympus. But that was something that was bound to happen, so he hadn’t really lost much.

“So there’s only one day remaining.”

Hephaestus was one to never break his promises. A day ago, he’d promised that it would take him two days to make him the greatest sword using mythril.

YuWon had high hopes. Not only did he obtain the 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal,」 he was also going to be given an item of really high caliber very soon.

‘As soon as the sword is finished…’

YuWon’s eyes were filled with spirit as he walked out of the hospital room.

‘… I’ll start the raid.’

* * *

Vzzt—!

Fshhhh—

The mana from the 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 quickly disintegrated the monsters’ bodies. This was due to the special property of dark mana.

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s] completion rate went up by just a little bit.

While trudging through the corpses of the gorilla-like monsters around him, YuWon looked down at the crystal in his hand.

‘It’s surprisingly hard to handle.’

YuWon thought back to the power of the 「Helm of Invisibility」 used by Hades. If the 「Helm of Invisibility」 was the sun, the current 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 was no more than a firefly. It might not have been the completed Helm and just a refined crystal, but the difference in power was too great.

‘Which means that it’s the difference in users.’

YuWon might have scored a tie against a Ranker in his last fight, but that was only because it was on the 1st Floor. And there was also the fact that Chryses was heavily injured from the fight with Hephaestus, along with the penalty.

‘So I can’t control this properly quite yet.’

YuWon checked the status of the 「Dark Divine Crystal.」

[Pure Dark Divine Crystal]

ᗌ A fragment that holds the darkness of the genesis. It contains mana with an unending dark property.

ᗌ Classification : crafting material.

ᗌ Capable of Stealth.

ᗌ Can change mana to Dark attribute.

ᗌ Hell Summon (limited)

ᗌ 50% increase in dark-type mana resistance.

ᗌ 30% increase in Dark attribute mana amplification rate.

ᗌ 30% decrease in Dark attribute mana consumption rate.

There were three major changes:

1. The ‘unrefined’ status disappeared.
2. The resistance, amplification rate, and consumption rate changed.

And 3. ‘Hell summon.’

It was the effect that was the most noticeable.

‘Hell’ was a word that symbolized Hades, and it was also like the fountain of his power.

However, as the ‘limited’ mark said, YuWon couldn’t use all the power of the 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 yet. Still, this gave a proper insight to its true power.

‘The Crystal is less of an item that holds power, and it’s more a medium that summons power.’

Hell. YuWon didn’t know what kind of place it was. It could be literally the world after death, or it could be the name of another world outside of the Tower. But one thing was for sure. The 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 was an item that extracted power from that world.

‘I am starting to somewhat get the hang of it, though.’

For a whole day, YuWon practiced using the Crystal.

Also, from the battle against Chryses, he was able to learn the limits of his own strength.

It took much longer for him to start the raid, but he gained enough things to compensate for it during that time.

And right on cue…

[Hephaestus: Come on over.]

… YuWon got a message from Hephaestus, who had changed his name on his player kit.

* * *

On the outskirts of the city…

Fwoosh, woosh—

The workshop with a low ceiling and thin tunnels was filled with heat.

It was a pretty decent workshop.

‘It must have cost him a pretty penny.’

It seemed that Hephaestus had quite a lot of money saved up, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. Items that he made were worth at least tens of thousands of points, and he also got a cut of all equipment sold by Olympus. He was probably part of the top 1% of Rankers in terms of wealth.

“Today’s a quiet day.”

“You’re here?”

Hephaestus welcomed YuWon with his usual greeting. Impatient as ever, he immediately brought out the stuff.

“Here you go.”

Hephaestus handed him a small wooden box and a sword wrapped in black cloth.

YuWon took them in each hand, and then asked while shaking the wooden box, “I get the sword, but what’s this?”

“Open it.”

“…?”

YuWon put down the sword for a moment to open up the box, but there was nothing inside.

“Is it supposed to be a prank box?”

“You idiot. Take a closer look.”

“But there’s nothing inside…”

When he placed his hand inside the wooden box, he felt a smooth sensation at the tips of his fingers. YuWon’s eyes sparkled. Closely getting a feel of it, he could tell the form of the thing.

‘A glove.’

[Invisible Glove]

ᗌ A thin glove made from a special material. It has a great mana conductivity.

ᗌ It can be made invisible through the Settings.

The item name and description was simple and straightforward. It was made from a special material, and it had great mana conductivity.

From those two pieces of information, YuWon could tell what it was made from.

“Did you make this with mythril?”

“You’re quick to tell.”

Hephaestus let out a joyous laugh.

Mythril was a mineral whose strength was in its high mana conductivity. It was even said that when you imbued mana into a sword made solely out of mythril, it felt like an extension of your body.

YuWon put the 「Invisible Glove」 on his hand. Because it was literally invisible, the only way to put it on was by using his sense of touch.

After struggling to put on the glove…

‘I don’t feel anything.’

… YuWon couldn’t feel a thing. It was as if he wasn’t wearing anything.

He wondered why Hephaestus made him something like this. Not only would it have been a pain to make it invisible, it even used expensive mythril.

YuWon didn’t have to think for too long.

“There’s a groove.”

On the back of the glove, there was a small inset. YuWon placed the 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 into it.

Fshhh—

The 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 attached itself to the glove. And then the crystal that was emitting a black light soon disappeared with the glove.

The 「Invisible Glove」 wasn’t a special item. It was to make it more convenient for YuWon to carry the Crystal so he didn’t have to hold it in his hand anymore.

‘So this was the reason why he mixed in mythril.’

YuWon opened and closed his hand, gathering the Crystal’s mana in his palm.

Despite there being a layer between him and the Crystal, YuWon could control the dark mana without any oddities as he liked. This was thanks to mythril’s high mana conductivity.

“I’m glad I don’t have to explain how to use it. I didn’t have time or materials, so I just half-assed it, so use it however you like.”

“I’ll use it well.”

“Say that after you’ve checked your sword.”

YuWon nodded his head and unwrapped the black cloth.

A matte grey scabbard. The shape and length was exactly the same as the 「Well-Sharpened Sword」that YuWon had requested.

‘It’s exactly the same.’

Just by unwrapping the cloth and touching it, YuWon could tell that this sword was truly epic.

Shing—

YuWon slowly pulled it out of the scabbard. The sharp blade emitted its own light.

Mythril was a faintly aqua-colored mineral, but the small quantity of the Dark Divine Crystal powder had completely tainted the sword black.

It was truly an awesome sword. Just by holding it in his hand, he could sense how sharp it was.

“You can name it.

[‘Blacksmith : Hephaestus requests a name for the sword.]

[Please choose a name.]

YuWon carefully inspected the sword.

He didn’t want to just name it after its appearance, instead wanting to decide after fully reading through the item description.

[? (undecided)]

ᗌ It’s a weapon crafted by the blacksmith Hephaestus. It’s been made using mythril and the remnants of a special crystal.

ᗌ It can accumulate dark mana.

ᗌ A maximum of 200% increase in stamina recovery rate in darkness.

ᗌ A maximum of 100% increase in mana amplification rate in darkness.

ᗌ A maximum of 100% increase in mana recovery rate in darkness.

After checking the effects of the sword, YuWon’s eyes widened.

‘What kind of recovery options are these…?’

It had a ‘maximum’ that only applied in a certain setting rather than a fixed rate, but the mana amplification rate and the stamina and mana recovery rates were already insane.

Taking the stamina and mana recovery into account, he might be able to sustain a fight in darkness almost infinitely.

‘A sword that increases my combat powers many-fold in darkness, as well as being capable of accumulating mana…’

This wasn’t simply a sharp and durable sword. It was a sword beyond all expectations.

Shing—

YuWon looked at his reflection off the smooth surface of the sword. He was smiling slightly.

Watching YuWon’s reaction, Hephaestus felt boastful.

“Have you decided on a name?”

YuWon nodded his head.

An onyx blade, specialized for night and darkness.

“I’ll name it ‘Edge of Nightfall.’”

[You have obtained 「Edge of Nightfall.」]

[By Hephaestus’s will, 「Edge of Nightfall」 becomes bound to you.]

A bound item. It seemed that Hephaestus didn’t want this sword falling into anyone else’s hands.

That didn’t matter to YuWon. Without some very special circumstances, there was no way he would sell a sword of this caliber for points.

“‘Edge of Nightfall’? You sure about that name?” Hephaestus asked.

YuWon answered while sheathing his sword, “Why not? It’s like a sharp sword of a deep, dark night.”

“What…?”

Hephaestus couldn’t believe it. For YuWon to be so edgy… He thought about scolding him, but decided to bite his tongue.

YuWon fastened the sword around his waist with a satisfactory smile on his face, unaware of what was wrong.

‘… He and the sword go well together,’ Hephaestus thought while shaking his head and letting out a deep sigh. There was nothing he could do. YuWon was clearly happy with it.

‘Too bad his naming sense sucks,’ Hephaestus disapproved. As someone that considered a piece of equipment to truly be complete once it was named, he was quite discontent.

Swallowing his grumbling, Hephaestus asked YuWon, “What do you plan on doing now?”

“I need to go up.”

There was zero hesitation in YuWon’s voice.

Hephaestus nodded his head, knowing that would be his response. “That’s what I thought.”

His face shifted from one that was ready to nag him to one filled with concern.

“What do you plan on doing about Olympus?” Hephaestus asked, averting his gaze.

He felt sorry. Because of him, YuWon got caught up with Olympus, and that was a wave too tall for YuWon, who had just started climbing the Tower. So of course he was filled with worry.

However…

“What do you mean, ‘what will I do?’”

… YuWon didn’t seem all that concerned. Was it because he didn’t know Olympus well enough? No, that wasn’t it. There was probably no one in the Tower that knew Olympus as well as him.

There was a response YuWon had long prepared for this question.

Only

“I plan on taking them down…”

He pointed towards the roof of the workshop. No, he was actually pointing to the top of the enormous Tower.

“… From all the way up there down to here.”

___